“Aren’t you a little prejudiced in favor of the Armstrongs, Mrs. O’Toole?” asked the prosecuting attorney, as Wickliff smilingly bade him “take the witness.”
“Yes, sor, I am,” cried Mrs. O’Toole, huddling her shawl closer about her wiry little frame. “I am that, sor, praise God! They paid the rint for me whin me bye was in throuble, and they got him wur-rk, and he’s doin’ well this day, and been for three year. And there’s many a hot bite passed betwane us whin we was neighbors. Prejudeeced! I’d not be wuth the crow’s pickin’s if I wasn’t; and the back of me hand and the sowl of me fut to thim that’s persecuting of thim this day!”
“Call Miss Pauline Beaumont,” said Wickliff. “That will do, grandma.”
Pauline’s evidence was very concise, but to the point. She did not consider the Armstrong organ a nuisance. She believed the Armstrongs, if instructed, would learn to play the organ. If the window were shut the noise could not disturb any one. She had the highest respect and regard for the Armstrongs.
“There’s my case, your Honor,” said Wickliff, “and I’ve confidence enough in it and in this court to leave it in your hands. Say the same, Johnny?”—to the young lawyer. Perley laughed; he was beginning to suspect that not all the case appeared on the surface. Perhaps the Beaumont family peace would fare all the better if he kept his hands off. He said that he had no evidence to offer in rebuttal, and would leave the case confidently to the wisdom of the court.
“And I’ll bet you a hat on one thing, Amos,” he observed in an undertone to the amateur attorney on the other side, “Fritz’s decision on this case may be good sense, but it will be awful queer law.”
“Fritz has got good sense,” said Amos.
The magistrate announced his decision. He had deep sympathy, he said, for the complainant, a gifted and estimable lady. He knew that the musical temperament was sensitive as the violin—yes. But it also appeared from the evidence that the Armstrong family were a good, a worthy family, lacking only a knowledge of music to make them acceptable neighbors. Therefore he decided that the Armstrong family should hire a competent teacher, and that, until able to play without giving offence to the neighbors, they should close the window. With that understanding he would find the defendants not guilty; and each party must pay its own costs.
Perley glanced at Amos, who grinned and repeated, “Fritz has got good sense.”
